Lakers’ Metta World Peace Punches Pistons’ Brandon Knight (Video)
By Josh Hill
When the artist formerly known as Ron Artest gets aggressive inside The Palace at Auburn Hills, we all go flashing back to that fateful night when we experienced that Malice at the Palace. We didn’t have an all-out brawl on Sunday afternoon, but Artest did get a little punchy with Pistons guard Brandon Knight.
After Pau Gasol was fouled by Greg Monroe, both Artest and Knight got into with one another, with Artest grabbing Knight around his neck and waist and throwing a subtle jab into the guard’s jaw. After the two were separated, Artest and Jason Maxiell got into a shouting match but things were calmed down before a fight could start.
Similar incidents happened nearly a decade ago when the Pacers and Pistons got into the most infamous brawl in NBA history, one that saw not only the benches clear but also the first six rows of the stadium.
Upon the replay of this incident though, it seemed like Artest was simply trying to creatively free his arm, but then again we’ll never really know.
This was no Malice in the Palace, but Artest got a solid pop-shot in on Knight when they two were going at it away from the basketball. After the game, Artest said that he thinks Knight is a ‘tough kid’ and was, as ESPN Los Angeles reporter Dave McMenamin put it, predictably entertaining.
“He’s a small guy,” World Peace said of Knight after the game. “He was trying his hardest to keep me off him. He worked hard, man. That kid, I don’t know where he’s from, I don’t know what school he went to, because he was guarding me and I was crashing the boards. He’s a tough kid, man. He tried to keep me off the glass and he did a good job. That’s all I can say. He’s a tough kid, very great. He’s a tough point guard or shooting guard or whatever he is.”